The idea of a wing tailored to arts instruction at Lincoln Elementary School for the Arts in Marrero made it into the original bids to rebuild the school, got dropped by the Jefferson Parish School Board last year over cost concerns, was revived by School Board members aiming to redesign the wing and lower costs but on Wednesday failed again to win support from a majority of the board. The board voted 5-3 against paying $170,573 for architects to redraw the plans for the wing.

Susan Poag/The Times-PicayuneWorkers install pilings for the new Lincoln Elementary School for the Arts in Marrero in February.

A key critic of the project from last year, board President Mark Jacobs, had joined the project's chief advocate, board member Cedric Floyd, whose district includes the school, in reintroducing the arts wing this year, as they searched for less expensive approaches. The board in November approved a $15.5 million plan to rebuild the rest of Lincoln after editing out the wing dedicated to creative pursuits. The system budgeted $16.4 million for the entire project, but including the wing pushed the price to $18 million.

When a decision to pay architects an additional fee for redesign work came to a board vote Wednesday, Jacobs withdrew his co-sponsorship because he objected to the $170,573 cost. Jacobs said he had hoped the expense of previous designs would mostly cover the redesign and that architects wouldn't charge significantly more, but that's not how it turned out.

The school system's facilities department has reported that the estimate for construction of a revamped wing is $1,955,000. When combined with the redesign fee and added to the overall construction cost, the price of building Lincoln with the wing reaches about $17.5 million, above the system's earlier budget but below the earlier bids.

"The way I see it is we spent too much on the school's main building," Jacobs said. He said he couldn't justify going forward with the arts wing at Lincoln when other buildings across the school system have leaking roofs and "restrooms in deplorable condition."

Board member Larry Dale agreed. "We need to spend money where we need it so badly," for maintenance, he said.

"We're still under training wheels when it comes to the federal court," Floyd said.

"We will be before federal court if we don't do it," he said about building the wing.

Floyd argued projects to build new schools in black neighborhoods seem to encounter unnecessary resistance on the board.

Meladie Munch, president of the Jefferson Federation of Teachers, also spoke in favor of keeping the wing.

"It is the arts school of the West Bank," Munch said. "These children need to be provided with a facility to meet the goal of the school as it was established."

The board's vote followed a bit of parliamentary confusion. The board has a policy barring members who were on the losing side of a vote from raising the same proposal again in less than a year. It could reopen the Lincoln issue because of Jacobs' co-sponsorship. Jacobs was on the winning side that decided against the wing last year.

So when he announced his withdrawal from the proposal, the move threatened to moot it automatically. School Board attorney Mike Fanning, however, concluded that the latest proposal was different enough that it could proceed without Jacobs.

Jacobs disagreed and exercised a power he has as board president to overrule Fanning's opinion. But he later reversed that decision and allowed the plan to face a vote without his co-sponsorship. Jacobs, Dale, Michael Delesdernier, Sandy Denapolis-Bosarge and Pat Tovrea then voted against the redesign fee. Floyd, Etta Liccardi and Ray St. Pierre voted for it. One member, Mark Morgan, had stepped away from the dais and didn't cast a vote.

Officials demolished the previous Lincoln building after deeming it inadequate. The school is operating temporarily on a former Catholic school campus in Harvey as it awaits a possible 2013-14 return to a rebuilt home.